Kings’ Mike Brown furious after brutal loss, blown 19-point lead: ‘We gotta wake up’

The Sacramento Kings’ latest 114-113 home defeat at the hands of the Detroit Pistons Thursday night marks the team’s fifth consecutive loss in what has arguably been the most uncertain period for the franchise over the past few seasons. 

Sacramento’s record has dropped to 13-18 on the season, with the team now placed as the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference.

This latest improbable loss could not come at a worse point in the season for Sacramento, a team that has recently been thrown into the trade rumor mill due to superstar point guard De’Aaron Fox’s potential contract extension declination looming.

In a contest where the Kings led by 14 points heading into the fourth quarter and led 113-110 with 10.1 seconds remaining, Fox fouled Detroit’s Jaden Ivey as he attempted a wild three-point shot from the right corner which sunk through the net. 

With Sacramento’s home crowd distraught, Ivey nailed the game-winning free throw to hand the Kings their worst loss of the season.

Following these events, Kings’ head coach Mike Brown spoke in a blunt fashion about the disastrous defensive mistake made on the final play as well as the state of his team during his post-game media availability. Brown also cited the team’s proclivity of complaining to officials on both ends throughout the contest.

“I don’t know why our pace wasn’t there, and our physicality defensively, where we want to go and win the game and not ask the refs to help us win the game wasn’t there,” Brown shared with media members Thursday night.

“I’m disappointed in all those things. Maybe a loss like this helps us, I don’t know. But we gotta wake up. We know a team’s gonna fight. We know the game’s going to get physical. We can’t look at the refs, asking to bail us out on the offensive end of the floor, on the defensive end of the floor.”

Detroit’s 37 fourth-quarter points gave Sacramento yet another wake-up call during this awful stretch, and their incredible comeback could further feed into rumors of Fox’s eventual departure from the Kings.

Fox has made it apparent throughout the team's five-game skid that he is not content with losing, and if he is not in a position to compete for a title year in and year out, he will assess his options and look to find the best situation to do so.

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